Erdaohe and his party, no, to be precise, three groups of ordinary people spontaneously formed a group of people, and were now divided into four small groups and took their respective positions.
The first team stayed behind in the military tent to bake mushrooms.
Represented by Mrs. Xu, there was a family of four young women with their daughter who was only four or five years old, as well as an old woman whose leg was blown up by the wind and broke her leg. The mushrooms I picked this morning.
Mrs. Xu and the young woman took great care of the old woman who broke her leg. The woman couldn't move because they went outside the tent to pick up a lot of stones despite being caught in the rain, and specially brought out the old woman's share.
There is no way, if you want to preserve mushrooms for a long time, they must be dried.
There is no reason to see such expensive Matsutake mushrooms everywhere but not pick them back. I can't stand the thought of the mushrooms that I worked so hard to pick go to waste. I can't stand it.
But it's raining outside, and it doesn't look like there's a kang at home.
If there is a kang, they can be spread on the hot kang to dry and strung together, but now we can only use local materials.
Mrs. Xu thought of the hot stones given by Huo Jiajun. They were very hot even after sleeping for most of the night. After heating, they were like little hot stones when placed on her belly. She suggested that the hot stones should be spread around the stove pit. The ground serves as a temporary hot kang to dry the mushrooms.
It happened that the Huo family's military tent was full of stoves. Instead of collecting firewood and setting pots on top of the firewood along the way, they dug holes directly in the ground, which was convenient for them to have many sources of fire.
And even the stone has to thank Huo Jiajun.
In the words of my granddaughter, you can't burn stones blindly as they may explode and hit them. It is best to use pebbles. Only this kind of stone is very hard and has good heat resistance. If you use it incorrectly and heat a stone containing carbonate such as granite, it will not only explode but also catch fire.
Presumably Huo Jiajun should also understand this aspect.
Isn't that right? Although the army withdrew, there were still many small pebbles piled into hills and placed outside the tents for future use by those who camped on the hills.
Mrs. Xu and the young woman carried baskets of stones into the tent.
After transporting them, first throw the small pebbles into the fire to make them hot, then take them out and spread them next to the stove fire, then spread a layer of straw on top, and finally spread the mushrooms on top to dry.
After finishing the project, I finally opened the tent and looked around, seeing mushrooms everywhere.
As this was not enough, Mrs. Xu turned the basket upside down on the fire, and put mushrooms on the bottom of the basket, so as not to waste any area, and put string on the side of the basket to hang the mushrooms. She even put a layer of mushrooms on the lid of the pot when it was boiling water.
A steward left behind by Huo Jiajun opened the curtain and came in. Old Mrs. Xu didn't know whether he was called deputy general or something else, but he was wearing a helmet and tassel, so he should be an officer.
This person may have never seen someone who was so good at surviving in the wilderness. The moment he opened the curtain, he fell silent. He probably couldn't bear to look at it anymore and said, "There is still a big tent available, but there is nowhere to dry it." Over there, it’s dangerous to be crowded, don’t catch fire.”
Mrs. Xu and the others were extremely happy, thinking: To be honest with the military master, they have already sent the second echelon to go pick mushrooms in the rain. The tent is indeed not enough, and it can be placed in another large tent.
After the military master left, the three women got together to discuss and collect some salt and sauce brought by each family. The newly picked mushrooms later, if they were broken, would not bother to dry them, and they were ready for frying. Half a bucket of mushroom sauce was sent to the guard team left behind by Huo Jiajun.
"Thanks to their care these past two days."
"No, without them, our lives would have been almost in danger."
This is absolutely true. What if you were buried in a mudslide or fell into the river when you passed a broken bridge?
Mrs. Xu increasingly understands why cotton cloth in the county has such a large price difference. It is really a waste of money. It takes a month to come back and forth, not to mention the hard work. In case of natural disaster, keep your head on the waistband of your pants. .
During this period, the three women did not waste time chatting while working.
No matter how long it takes, it can't affect the main business: chatting.
Mrs. Xu could tell by listening to the words of those two people that the conditions of those two families were not bad.
Also, when I go out these days, I can’t go out without some spare money and a livestock cart.
Like that family of four who opened a farm equipment shop, and Mrs. Xu asked for the address. I'll go back and buy something in the spring so I can use it if I can't.
The old woman who broke her leg was more capable at home.
Although the old woman did not say how many acres of land her family has in total, but in these days when there is not enough food to grow, the family can spare 14 acres of fertile land to plant yellow mushrooms (niang with three sounds). I heard that they can be harvested every other day. , you can harvest more than 600 kilograms in two days.
A pound of mushrooms can be sold wholesale in Fucheng for eight cents, and the seedlings can bear fruit from around August until the frost. You can imagine how much money the family will earn in a few months.
Mrs. Xu also asked for the address. She planned to wait for the next batch of goods to earn some spare money, and asked the third child to take a trip to buy some mushrooms for her granddaughter.
She also asked about whether the mushroom picker hired someone?
"Hire me, otherwise I won't be able to do it."
"How much money do you pay per day?" It was a hard job for a mushroom picker. Mrs. Xu wanted to find out the price of hiring someone to do the work, so as not to be taken advantage of later by hiring someone to help her granddaughter make soap.
"Five coppers an hour. If you can work for five hours a day, then hurry up and do it."
Mrs. Xu understood.
The old woman who broke her leg said with a grimace: "Except the money for working for others, the expenses on the road, the fodder for mules and cattle, and selling fruits is nothing more than donkey dung eggs, which is equivalent to selling your wife to buy monkeys to play with. The mushroom seller makes a lot of money. That little money has to be used to buy food to fill our stomachs, and the price of food keeps changing every day. My family has stopped producing all potatoes and sweet potatoes this year. Unfortunately, Gu Niang Yangzi’s dozen acres of land on the high hill have not been soaked by the rain, otherwise it will be over. .”
Speaking of this, the young woman felt the same and echoed:
"In the past, we were prone to severe droughts. I have never heard of so much rain. This year, it seems to have leaked, and there is a strong wind. To tell you the truth, people here have been burning incense everywhere since the beginning of spring to pray for the bald-tailed old man. Li, Baishan Python General, Jiudingshan Black Empress, I didn’t expect that the more I begged, the more energetic I became. God seemed to be drinking too much, and it was going to rain heavily. Not only did my family lose all potatoes and sweet potatoes, but also the beans in the back garden. The racks are all finished. In previous years, we could dry a lot of shredded beans, but this year we only saved a small handful."
The two of them looked at Mrs. Xu.
Only then did they realize that they talked about their family affairs a lot, but they didn't know anything about Mrs. Xu's situation.
The Xu family's sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes got up early, but the production didn't stop, but the production was reduced and not sweet at all, including those that Mrs. Xu later spent money to save.
Mrs. Xu just said: "If my family had enough confidence, they could work hard to pick mushrooms like this."
Too.
I heard that Mrs. Xu divided the mushrooms among dozens of families, unlike the young woman and the old woman who broke her leg who picked and dried their mushrooms together.
There are indeed more than a dozen of them. If we can't give the Erdaohe boys wages, why don't we also give them some mushrooms to take home? Just treat it as hard work in vain.
The two women were quite loyal and said: "I'm just waiting for you back in the cave. I'll just help you dry it, otherwise it will cause trouble."
The little girl aged four or five also said: "Grandma Xu, let me help you pick mushrooms."
"Hey, what a treasure. She is as sensible as your sister Tian Xin."
"Then can I get boar skin when I grow up?"
"I can get it."
Next, only the little girl was happy, and all of them were worried again: "I don't know when we can leave."
Presumably, we have to wait until the debris blocking the road is pushed away and the broken bridge is reconnected. Otherwise, even if we follow the large army this morning, it will cause chaos. After all, they are both cargo and cattle carts.
"My house hasn't been repaired for several years. There are only a few clouds in the sky. I wonder if there is a strong wind blowing at home and the roof will be lifted."
Old Mrs. Xu couldn't talk about this topic at all. Her family had built a new house and lived by the river. She couldn't bear the strong wind and rain, but there was no point in worrying.
But when she just woke up in the cave this morning, she spit out her mouth, like a psychotic person, and kept saying to herself in the customary rhyme of Northeast China: It's okay, nothing is wrong, to comfort herself. My own nightmare last night.
She dreamed last night that the roof of the thatched roof of her new house was lifted, and she, an old woman, fell from the roof and broke her leg and ended up in her home.
But when she woke up in the morning, she found that her granddaughter had pinned her legs down.
She also had an injury to her knee. Yesterday she fell off the car and broke a piece of skin, which was bloodshot. She never dared to tell her granddaughter for fear of worrying about it.
at the same time.
Most of the strong young men in the second echelon were walking through the forest with baskets on their backs and continuing to pick mushrooms.
After picking, they were sent to Mrs. Xu to dry.
The third echelon was composed of three groups of representatives of common people, who were collecting feces in Huo Jiajun's stable.
Their original intention was to collect the cow dung pulled by their own mules and cows, so that the fertilizer would not flow into other people's fields.
Dried cow dung can be used as firewood, which happens to require a lot of firewood for drying mushrooms.
For example, Erdaohe and his party always carried cow dung in prepared bags along the way, because this thing has many benefits. On the one hand, it can be used as firewood when sleeping at night, and on the other hand, the cow dung is a little bit. There are no mosquitoes or bugs at all, which is much better than the mugwort. It would be better if there are any leftovers, as taking them home can help fertilize the land.
But I didn't expect to see mountains of horse dung.
I heard that a horse pulls eight times a day and pulls about 40 kilograms a day. You can imagine how much Huo Jiajun pulled.
When the boys saw him, they called him a good guy.
Mainly lamenting that Huo Jiajun's quality is too high, because he asked them as soon as they met: "Do you want it?"
Xu Youcang felt extremely distressed: "I want it, but I can't pull it back."
Seeing things trashed is like being stabbed in the heart.
The soldier in charge of the stable was also very sorry: "It's really delicious to cook meat with this thing."
I thought, if this could be taken to a station or a village and left for the people, the horse manure would be of great use.
The personal guard who was looking at the horses also introduced their uses to Xu Youcang and the others in detail:
For example, horse dung bricks are thrown out like adobe bricks. Building a house with these bricks is particularly warm.
Their leader, Jia Commander, had already said that when they got back to the camp, he would let them break down horse dung bricks to build the camp wall.
When the families of soldiers and military households moved in, horse manure would be used to loosen the soil and fertilize the land to grow vegetables and grain. And only horse manure will keep the ground warm.
Isn't there such a saying? Cow dung is cool, horse dung is hot, and sheep dung is a good compromise. This is good because it has a wide range of applications. Sheep manure is used for growing flowers and vegetables, but horse manure is most suitable for reclaiming fertile land in the north. After fermentation, it doesn't have much flavor, but it is very powerful. I don't believe that I can drink it by soaking it in a cup of water with horse manure. After drinking it, I will feel hot all over.
So, what a pity, if only it could be given to the people in the village for free.
Even if it is impossible for people to get so many horse dung bricks to build houses at once, if they only put a layer of horse dung on the outside of the house, the wind will not penetrate in winter and the sun will not get through in summer:
"You can use it even when you build a cellar. We tried it when we were in the northwest. We filled a cellar with a layer of horse manure. In the hottest season of summer, the cellar felt cool. After storage, it was still cool. Can hold ice cubes.”
After hearing this, the other young men thought to themselves: What this military commander said is very good, but please stop saying it, lest they feel even more distressed if they are unable to leave after hearing this.
Xu Youcang gritted his teeth and said, "I want it. If I can't pull it away this time, I'll make a mark first and pull it up the mountain when I pass by here next time."
His family wants to build a house and his family wants fertile land.
He heard from his mother that the family would also build a large pancake stove and a steaming and baking stove for making dried sweet potatoes in the yard. If there were horse manure bricks, there would be no need to spend money.
And when he goes to Fucheng to deliver goods next time, the truck will probably be empty when he comes back after selling the goods. Plus, he is carrying it with the straps on, so he should be able to transport a lot of horse dung back.
You can't be greedy and just expect Huo Jiajun to go to his yard to get something ready-made.
It's good to have this, just in time for his next trip, the horse manure will be frozen, making it easier to pick it up.
Upon hearing this, the Erdaohe boys said: "Okay, Brother Youcang, let's carry horse dung to the foot of the mountain together. So that you don't have to go up the mountain next time and run the risk of not eating the beasts in the mountains in winter. What is not needed can be given to passers-by. Come and light the fire to keep yourself warm. Let it pick you up."
Don't bother Huo Jiajun with this job.
However, for now, we need to pick some slightly dry ones, and send them to the tent to roast the mushrooms, which are waiting for urgent firewood.
Xu Youcang dug out the lumps pulled by mules, oxen and horses earlier, and grabbed them with his hands...
It was at this time that Xu Tianxin entered the tent to find her third uncle.
She belongs to the fourth echelon of people who do private work of tanning pig skins.
In her group, she is the leader and Liu Laozhu is a member.
Xu Tianxin wants to say something first. Do you know how smelly wild boar skin is? Family members, she first soaked them in plant ash water by the stream, and used the saponification reaction between plant ash and fat to clean them.
I really can’t stand the stinking smell and use soap again.
Then I found plants containing tannins in the woods with Grandpa Rizheng.
The so-called tannins are found in natural plants such as figs, walnuts, and bald pine trees. She finally found a bald pine tree, cut the bark into pieces, and soaked the skin together. Not only did the flavor remain the same, but she also kneaded the skin.
I heard that if you want to tan the leather without spending money on Glauber's salt and yellow rice noodles, the only way left is to rub the leather vigorously with your hands for an hour or two to prevent it from deforming, and the resulting leather will be fine and soft.
However, the rubbing caused her hands to curl up due to the cold water, and her hands were pricked with pig hairs. She was reluctant to throw away the pig hair and wanted to make toothbrushes, shoe brushes, and pig hair hats and gloves, but she couldn't bear the pricking and almost cried to her third uncle for help.
But she didn't expect to see a scene that stopped her when she came in: "...Third uncle, is the shit dry?"
Xu Youcang released his grip and said, "No, why did you come here by yourself? Where is your Grandpa Li Zheng?"
"Grandpa Li Zheng was smoked and fell by the creek."
Xu Tianxin also wanted to faint. In the words of family members in the live broadcast room: the smell of wild boar skin has entered the dung pile again, and the smell is floating all over the screen.
The Huo family's personal guards couldn't see Xu Tianxin being so disgusted, so they blocked Xu Tianxin that night and forced her to smell the horse dung that had been dried and could be used as fuel.
This personal guard believed that if Xu Tianxin could get Commander Jia to say "little friend", then he was not an outsider, but also their little friend.
Xu Tianxin had no choice but to take the dried horse dung, which was brown and the same color as millet cakes. She also risked her life for the live broadcast and smelled it: "Hey? Don't say hey, it smells like Liuwei Dihuang Pills."
